Various varieties of flower bulbs are used to decorate the landscape or gardens. A common practice with respect to planting bulbs is to select one or more varieties of bulbs. Subsequently a hole is dug and the flower bulb is placed therein. The bulb is covered with soil and then usually watered depending on the humidity of the soil. Separate bulbs of separate varieties may be planted accordingly at predetermined distances from each other and in different combinations of varieties to create a desired landscape or pattern of flowers in the garden.
This practice however may lead to difficulties for persons that are not familiar with gardening. It may be difficult to plant bulbs in a particular pattern, such as a colour pattern of a particular shape of area, because it may be difficult to visualize on the basis of bulbs that all have a similar colour how the pattern of flowers will eventually look like. This difficulty is enhanced because bulbs of one variety may flower in a particular time of the year while others flower in a different time of the year.
In addition, bulbs of different varieties may require different conditions. For instance, some flower varieties may not be biologically compatible.
It may also be difficult and time-consuming to position bulbs correctly in the abovementioned pre-dug hole to ensure that the bulb is in the optimal position to grow, especially when one intends to plant a large number of bulbs.
Bulbs of different varieties may also require different inter-bulb distances in order to allow for healthy growth. Bulbs of a certain species may require a larger distance between bulbs than bulbs of other species.
Because of these difficulties and required technical knowledge, a person that is not familiar with gardening might be hesitative towards planting bulbs in the ground.
A variety of solutions have been proposed to solve the abovementioned problems in the form of containers with chambers formed into it for carrying bulbs. For instance WO03/015496 provides a flower bulb planting container that allows holding, storing, and subsequently planting flower bulbs into the ground. This container is made of a biodegradable material and can be planted in total into the ground. The container comprises a flat top surface and side walls depending therefrom and contains a plurality of truncated cavities depending from the top surface. In the bottom of each cavity a hole is provided to allow water entry and drainage after planting and to allow maturing roots easily to exit the cavity. The container described in WO03/015496 allows for pre-planting, off-the-shelf selection by the consumer of flower bulbs of possibly differing variety, biocompatibility and colour. Moreover, it provides a means to hold bulbs at a chosen inter-bulb spacing.
The known containers, such as the container disclosed in WO03/015496, however have the disadvantage that they are too rigid, which prevents flexible use of the container.
Another disadvantage is that with these containers a desired shape is obtained using a mould. These moulds are made exclusively by specialized companies and involve large investments and preproduction times. For instance, when one desires a container of a particular shape, a new mould may involve a large initial investment sum. For these reasons, the possibilities with regard to size and shape as well with regard to customizing size and shape are rather limited.
An additional disadvantage is that due to their lack of flexibility, the containers known in the art occupy a large space during transport and storage. This makes transport and storage costs rather high.
Because of their inflexibility and their large size, it is also difficult for the known containers to provide a suitable and attractive display box or rack.
It is therefore an aim of the invention to provide a package for holding, storing, transporting and direct planting into the ground a plurality of flower bulbs which allows for pre-planting, off-the-shelf selection by the consumer of flower bulbs of possible differing variety, biocompatibility and colour, which is biodegradable and provides a means to hold bulbs at their optimal inter-bulb spacing at a correct position, and which does not have the abovementioned disadvantages with respect to the requirement of a mould, low flexibility, limited possibilities for customizing and displaying difficulties.